University Assignment: Consumer Rights and Privacy Report

This report delves into the crucial aspects of consumer rights and privacy within the contemporary market landscape. It highlights the increasing significance of customer data collection, storage, and analysis by organizations, emphasizing the role of data as a marketing tool. The report addresses the rise of second-party data and the associated privacy challenges, including data breaches and the potential for misuse of consumer information. A case study evaluation examines the impact of privacy violations, such as telemarketing calls and data security failures, including incidents like the Equifax breach and the Cambridge Analytica controversy. The report underscores the need for ethical conduct, transparency, and robust data security measures. It explores customer rights, including the right to be informed, the right to safety, and the right to seek redressal, while emphasizing the importance of consent and responsible data handling. The conclusion stresses the need for organizations to prioritize customer data protection and implement strategies that align with ethical marketing practices to maintain consumer trust and avoid legal repercussions. The report provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of consumer rights and privacy, offering a comprehensive overview of the challenges and potential solutions.

Running head: CONSUMER RIGHTS AND PRIVACY
Consumer Rights and Privacy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Case Study Evaluation...............................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The contemporary market situation is all about gathering, storing, analyzing and using
customer or consumer information and data by organizations with the purpose to serve their
customers better. The consumer data collected are valuable source of marketing tools
implemented to increase customer base for the particular organization which in turn helps the
company or the organization to achieve its overall objective. Recently there is a rise in the
use of second-party data, information or data that are collected by other companies and
acquired from them. There are organizations, whose sole motive is to collect, analyze and
store customer or consumer data and they reap massive revenues from this business. Data
dissemination and sharing have become the mandatory job of the decade as organizations
harness large amount of profits from this environment. This developing work environment
and process has given rise to systematic privacy issues for customers or consumers. Easy
access of consumer data and information has lead to widespread unintended consequences of
data manhandling. Respecting customer right and privacy is the need of the hour.
Case Study Evaluation.
Invasion of customer or consumer right and privacy have garnered much media
attention as there is a never ending trail about the tale of customer rights and privacy. The
consequences of the invasion have been found to be minor and in some cases it had a major
negative impact. There are news about how certain customers have suffered numerous times
by telemarketing calls and unwanted communication made with them (Harmeling et al.,
2017). But it can also be countered the calls does not make the customer suffer from
significant harm. The recent decade has seen multiple data breaches resulting from the
inappropriate and insufficient security protocols implemented by the companies. The

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companies failed to properly evaluate their vulnerabilities which eventually lead to security
breaches and massive data loss. Considering the Equifax data scam 2018, the breach has
impacted millions of US citizens. Other prominent data theft incidents that can be named are
the Time Warner Cable data breach incident in the year 2017, the same year saw another data
theft situation in World Wrestling Entertainment and Verizon. The thefts were easy as the
companies missed out on the vulnerability patches required for the protection of data. The
most highlighted case impacting consumer right and privacy is the Cambridge Analytica
controversy. It happened in the month of April, 2018, millions of personal data of Facebook
users were compromised to support illegal data mining and analysis for a political campaign.
Incidents such as the ones mentioned, provokes future data breaches and thefts impacting
customers in the long run. The noticeable impact falls on the customer’s credit score
(Bennett, & Raab, 2017). Data breaches not only harm customers but badly stain the
reputation and market position of an organization or company. Companies suffer damage
beyond staining reputation but through fraudulent use of digital card and loans using the
information collected through data breach. Impacts can be as wide and public like the
Cambridge Analytica controversy and the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Problems recognized from such cases are how vulnerable customer data is. Customer
right and privacy is of primary concern which the steep rise in data theft cases in the recent
past. Sustainable solutions are required from stakeholders along with societal implications to
reduce breaching of customer privacy (Kumar & Reinartz, 2018). Yet with the increase of
data thefts and data breaches, customer privacy and rights are often sidelined and ignored.
Discussions on the importance of data capitalism gains more lime light, dictating its benefits
society can derive and implement. Customer data collection and the privacy issues related to
the process are discussed in terms of the need for organizations to allay their concerns
through transparency and reassurance (Morey, Forbath & Schoop, 2015). The discussion

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erases the highlighted facts about customer data and information collection. There are
significant questions about the amount of data the company should collect about its
customers, the collection process, justification for the act and most importantly how secure is
the sensitive data of the customers. Customer behavior theories include theory of reasoned
action, Engel, Kollet, Blackwell (EKB) Model, motivation need theory and Hawkins Stern
Impulse Buying.
The last few years have brought about valid statements on customer privacy ethics
and rights, and the need for legal assistance to acquire data. When collecting data from and
about the customers, organizations must follow the ethical code of conduct. The intention of
the company must be stated clearly and consent before using the data must be acquired used
for marketing purpose (Martin & Murphy, 2017). All of this falls under basic customer rights.
Customer rights include: right to be informed, right to safety, right to choose, right to be
heard and lastly the right to seek redressal. When personal data is shared like contact number
and residential address for the purpose for getting the job done, the information shared should
be respected and not put forward to third parties for unrelated business agendas. Consumer
service and consent is inter-related wherein a customer shares and gives consent to use the
data for business agendas. Customer consent in this technology driven world does not favor
the customer much as every step needs sensitive data to perform, take the example of online
shopping, where customers are bound to provide their address to get items delivered
(Kubesch & Wicker, 2015). It is important in today’s world to select the right vendor to
share the data with as data dissemination is beyond customer’s control. Data collected is
mostly done without the active acknowledgment of the customer. Data collection do benefits
in the bigger picture but arguably has several privacy issues connected to it. The conditions
put forward by companies before collecting data changes over time violating customer
privacy. This jeopardizes the consented information given to the company at the time of

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collection and disclosure. Change in business model can be done to provide control over their
own data like using consent intermediaries. It is important for organizations to have strong
security policy stringent norms when data is collected, disseminated and used by the
organization (Martin, Borah & Palmatier, 2017). For organizations to act as privacy
champions they need to constantly uphold customer values.
Being a customer and not being happy with how an organization collected customer
data, as a customer the issue can be raised and the organization should be apprised of the
problem facing. The company policy can be studied to understand the structure of the norm
and debated to get access over the data. The customer can also request the organization to
change its mean of data usage. The last resort to the problem can be the use of legal
assistance to protect own data (Ohlhausen, & Okuliar, 2015).
Conclusion
Data privacy is a rising issue and organizations should implement methods or change
the existing policy to protect customer data. To gain a name in the market place,
organizations must use data strategically with the consent of the customers to avoid any legal
issues. The data collected must be secured to prevent data breaches.

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References
Bennett, C. J., & Raab, C. D. (2017). The governance of privacy: Policy instruments in global
perspective. Routledge.
Harmeling, C. M., Moffett, J. W., Arnold, M. J., & Carlson, B. D. (2017). Toward a theory of
customer engagement marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science, 45(3), 312-335.
Kubesch, A. S., & Wicker, S. (2015). Digital rights management: The cost to consumers
[Point of View]. Proceedings of the IEEE, 103(5), 726-733.
Kumar, V., & Reinartz, W. (2018). Customer Privacy Concerns and Privacy Protective
Responses. In Customer Relationship Management (pp. 285-309). Springer, Berlin,
Heidelberg.
Martin, K. D., & Murphy, P. E. (2017). The role of data privacy in marketing. Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, 45(2), 135-155.
Martin, K. D., Borah, A., & Palmatier, R. W. (2017). Data privacy: Effects on customer and
firm performance. Journal of Marketing, 81(1), 36-58.
Morey, T., Forbath, T., & Schoop, A. (2015). Customer data: Designing for transparency and
trust. Harvard Business Review, 93(5), 96-105.
Ohlhausen, M. K., & Okuliar, A. P. (2015). Competition, consumer protection, and the right
[approach] to privacy. Antitrust Law Journal, 80(1), 121-156.